• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Department of Education Division of Bacolod City has been asked to encourage students, faculty members, and parents to wear facemask inside enclosed spaces and within the school premises to prevent the spread of pertussis, or whooping cough.
This as the Department of Health Western Visayas Center for Health Development said April 3 that its Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (RESU) logged 89 cumulative cases of pertussis from Jan. 1 to April 1 this year, with five deaths.
Of the reported cases, 22 are laboratory-confirmed, 46 are probable, while 21 are negative cases. The highest number of cases were reported in the province of Iloilo with 48, Iloilo City with 17, and the province of Negros Occidental with eight cases, the DOH6 added.
The City Health Office (CHO) earlier said it also monitored probable cases of pertussis in Bacolod and has sent samples to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for confirmation.
“Pertussis spreads easily from person to person, mainly through droplets produced by coughing or sneezing (so) the DepEd Division of Bacolod is enjoined to encourage students, parents, faculty, and staff to wear facemask…to prevent its spread and transmission,” Councilor Claudio Jesus “Kalaw” Puentevella said.
Puentevella, chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Health and Sanitation, noted in his resolution approved by the SP April 3 that Dr. Rontgene Solante, president of the Philippine College of Physicians and an infectious disease expert, in a recent televised briefing, “advised and encourages the public to wear facemask, since pertussis can be transmitted through respiratory droplets”.
A related resolution also asked the CHO to intensify its information dissemination drive on the importance of vaccination in preventing pertussis, noting that this highly-contagious respiratory infection is most dangerous among infants.
“Infants as young as six weeks may already be given the vaccine for free at government health centers while children one to six years old may get a booster dose,” Puentevella said.
DOH6 director, Dr. Adriano Suba-an, said in a statement Wednesday that one of the primary reasons for the increase of pertussis cases is the low immunization coverage in Western Visayas.
“To mitigate the trend of pertussis cases in the region, the DOH6 made collaborative efforts with partners and stakeholders on the provision of technical assistance, including capacity-building activities, for health workers to improve their immunization program and cold-chain management,” Suba-an said.
The series of meetings with local government units, hospitals’ health education and promotion officers, primary and elementary school teachers, and parents/guardians led to the creation of policies and guidance on how to break-off the chain-of-infection in schools, primary care facilities, and hospitals, he added.
The DOH6 and LGUs have also requested the DOH central office for additional pentavalent vaccine stocks in the continuous implementation of routine immunization among children and in preparation for the outbreak response immunization.
“Parents and caregivers should ensure that children receive the recommended vaccines for the first year of life. The importance of protecting infants and children against vaccine-preventable diseases should be our ultimate goal.
“The public is advised not to be alarmed, but to be more familiar and alert with the signs and symptoms of pertussis, such as mild cough and cold that lasts up to two weeks, followed by outbursts of cough which lasts up to six weeks,” Suba-an said as he stressed the need to seek consultation at the earliest onset of the signs and symptoms to prevent further complications and the spread of infection. | CGC
